Item Description:

Being the son or grandson of a gadol has its drawbacks. It's hard to make your mark in the world when your father's shadow looms so large. Rabbi Wein explores the lives of six Torah giants, each one a father, son or grandson of an equally towering giant. Some carried on the family tradition while other's broke ground with spiritual rebellion, but each one drew on his exceptional talents to become a Jewish leader in his own right.

Individual lectures:

The Chasam Sofer - Rabbi Wein paints an intimate portrait of the Chasam Sofer with stories that exemplify his self-sacrificing leadership and uncompromising integrity. From his miraculous birth to his brush with the fearsome German government, Rabbi Wein captures the life of a rabbinic authority whose rulings held human dignity paramount above all.

The Ksav Sofer - When the time came for the Ksav Sofer to succeed his father, it did not happen without a fight. Yet because of his extraordinary friendship with Emperor Franz Josef Hapsburg, he secured Pressburg as a center of Torah life. Rabbi Wein details his accomplishments, arguing that perhaps he even outshone his illustrious father.

Rabbi Akiva Eiger - Though known for his incisive Torah mind and his iron-willed opposition to Chassidus, as a person Rabbi Akiva Eiger was as gentle as a lamb. Rabbi Wein explores this side of the great scholar with stories that will warm your heart and exhilarate your soul

Reb Leibele Eiger - Like so many talented youth of his time, Rabbi Leibele Eiger caught the fire of Chassidus and became a follower of Kotzk. But as the grandson of a great Misnagid, his choice was nothing short of revolutionary. In this fascinating biography, Rabbi Wein captures the spirit that drove him and his fellows – a dread of stifling conformity and a love of innovation.

The Sfas Emes - A child prodigy, the Sfas Emes was groomed to succeed his grandfather as Gerrer Rebbe. The heart-warming intimacy between the Chiddushei Ha Rim and his “Leibele” will charm all listeners, but most amazing of all is how that early education bore fruit in the Sfas Emes’ own reign as Rebbe.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Alter - The youngest son of the Sfas Emes, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Alter inherited the key spiritual traits of Ger Chassidus: the forthrightness of its forerunner Kotzk. Whether it was taking on the propaganda machine of secular Jewish newspapers or railing against the ostentatious shows of wealth by frum Jews, Rabbi Alter feared nobody. But his fiercest battle of all was against an unassailable enemy – Polish anti-Semitism.